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Our Fantabulous Trip Around the Globe
From my journal:
June 22 Thaba-Tseka
Last night, a snow storm swept in. About 1cm or so and gusty winds- I'm amazed at how people here manage in this weather especially those in tin shacks and rustic huts. We awoke this morning to a beautiful winter scene but in Africa of course. On our way to school, I took advantage of a new discovery on my camera that I've owned for 3 years- the panorama function - to capture the beautiful snow covered scenery. Upon our arrival to the school, there was neither student nor staff. Apparently, a snow day was declared without us being told. (I learned that if there is snow on the ground, then there is no school-official rule) Only 8 students showed up for our daycamp, and 6 came over to our place where we absolutely spoiled them (most were our favorites already) with games, crafts and a bland lunch of undercooked rice and eggs. We were somewhat relieved to not have to run the daycamp. We are tired especially since the 4s and 5s are less disciplined than the older grades and their English is weaker too.
To me the poverty here has become more apparent when it gets cold. On our way home, I saw 3 kids with flimsy and tattered blankets and clothes walking in the opposite direction practically frozen. Although, it set a bad precedent of whitey=free stuff, I had to give them oranges (I had 80 in my backpack from our cancelled daycamp). They looked so unhappy and cold. One had a black-eye so they must not have a happy home. After a while, I became desensitized to the poverty here partly because it is so omnipresent and because of the little abuses of charity I have observed. Also, some hide it very well. Last week, I helped a student bring his 25 kg bag of maize from the World Food Program to his home. He was 10 years old and expected to haul it home over a distance of 3 km. I was shocked by his home- a scrap metal box maybe 2m by 3m. Now I notice more and more the tattered and ripped clothes on the kids. Most people don't fix the holes in their clothes because that means they have to take away from their meager budget for food. I don't feel powerless to help (like I did in the beginning) - in fact, I know that I can (and will) make a difference here- I will try. It's terrible that most can not afford 15M (2.50$) for a bag of oranges to have vitamins. Proof is in how small the children are. It's just sick how wealthy we are; we were just fortunate to be born where we were because we didn't do anything to deserve the privileges we inherited. We can easily give this people of future but most chose not to. What is truly sad is that if there was something of an economy here, most of the problems would go away.
This week, I worked with the 4s only (last week was with the standard 6s). I had a 17 year old girl from a high school to help me, but unfortunately she was so depressed from finding out she is pregnant that she was essentially another student in the class. I wanted here in a leader-role, I asked if she could be called `Me (mother) but she was insistent that she was an Aussi (sister-which is used for a girl). It turns out that there was 20 year-old in the class. Apparently she has a learning disability although she speaks very good English. The ages ranged from 8 to 20 years old in the class. She always sat with what appeared to be the smart kid in the class who helped her.
The kids were fun but at times frustrating mostly due to their lack of English (although this is their first experience with a Canadian-it took the 7s days to understand our accent) and because many were cold and very hungry as we didn't serve breakfast that they normally get at school. Closer to lunch time, it was harder to get their attention. They were sweet kids although it was difficult to get them especially the boys to do their chores like fetching lunch and cleaning the classroom. The kids showed much interest in books. In fact, I took books out of the library for them to read and they jumped all over them. It appears that the teachers are the biggest obstacle to developing literacy here because they don't want the books to get damaged or lost.
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